COUNTY Hall has been criticised after a report revealed the number of potholes repaired in East Lancashire is lower than west of the county.

Lancashire County Council has been slammed by councillors after data was released yesterday showing the percentage of potholes that have been fixed in 20 working days across Lancashire from April to August 2018.

The statistics reveal that the areas which received the lowest support from Lancashire County Council’s highways team were three boroughs in East Lancashire.

Out of the 12 Lancashire County Council districts, the three in East Lancashire that received the least support included Ribble Valley, Burnley and Pendle.

Pendle is the area which was the worst affected with just 58 per cent of potholes in the borough repaired within the five month period.

Ribble Valley was the second worst with 59 per cent and Burnley was the third lowest with just 68 per cent of potholes repaired.

These figures sit below the five month average of 74 per cent across the county.

Councillors in East Lancashire expressed deep concern about the lack of potholes that have been fixed in their respective boroughs.

Burnley council leader Mark Townsend said: “These figures clearly show that East Lancashire motorists are getting a raw deal.

“The county council are obviously focusing resources on central Lancashire which on average get 90 per cent repaired in 20 days when East Lancashire only get 68 per cent.”

County Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, of Brierfield and Nelson West, said: “Here we have clear evidence that the Tory run county council is yet again neglecting Pendle and their county councillors from Pendle are too cowardly to speak up and defend our area.”

The four local authority areas with the highest number of potholes fixed between April and August were all based in West Lancashire.

Despite the concerns raised Cllr Iddon has defended County Hall’s pothole policy and claimed the bad weather earlier in the year has skewed the figures.

The county councillor said: “It was a horrendous winter and we were still catching up in April.

“Since then we have made improvements and in August the average across Lancashire was up to 98 per cent.

“Unfortunately because of the bad weather the early figures have brought down all the good work done by the team in May, June, July and August.”

Other East Lancashire boroughs named in the data include Rossendale, which had 75 per cent of potholes repaired, and Hyndburn with 78 per cent of potholes repaired.